Clandara

Clandara, Evelyn Anthony, 1963, Doubleday & Co. Genre: Historical Fiction. 324 pages. Finished 6/2/2010.

LesOpinion: If you were faced with a book described on its yellowed dust jacket from 1963 as "a novel of love and rebellion in eighteenth-century Scotland" how eager would you be to dive right in? My thoughts exactly.

Set against the backdrop of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's ill-fated return to Scotland in 1745 to reclaim the throne and make the Catholics happy again, the book tells the tale of star-crossed lovers Katherine Fraser and James "the MacDonald" MacDonald. The Fraser and MacDonald clans have been involved in a feud that makes the Hatfields and McCoys seem like bosom buddies. The MacDonald, he freely admits, is a murderer and a rapist (he has locked whole families of Fraser farmers in their barns and burned them alive, but only after raping the women for good measure). Good news! The lovely Katherine, we learn, can overlook little character quirks like psychopathy.

There's a good bit of 1963-level bodice-ripping ("his body reaching its triumph within hers"), charging steeds, and even a few sword fights thrown in for good measure. It's a little overlong on bringing James and Katherine together, and honestly, James was so repulsive I ended up hoping for his death every time he came near a sharp object. Alas, 'twas not to be.

The kind of dick James is that was probably sexy in 1963: "He did not like women to do anything at all except accommodate him when and where he felt like it, to ask no questions and make no demands."